Reporters asked Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum in her Nov. 4 morning press conference about the NBC News report that U.S. President Donald Trump is drawing up plans to send troops and intelligence officers into Mexico in the name of fighting drug cartels. “Has your government been informed about this, and will you seek dialogue?” they asked.
Mexico’s President was categorical: “No, that will not happen, it will not happen…. We have no information that it is going to happen. Furthermore, we do not agree with it.”
Mexico reached a security agreement with the U.S. government, after months of work by both sides, which was agreed on when U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in Mexico (over Sept. 2-4), she explained. “And we are going to continue working within that framework of understanding, which has very clear principles that are stated at the beginning of this agreement, namely: respect for our sovereignty and our territorial integrity; and collaboration and coordination without subordination of either state.
“So that is not going to happen. And we have made it clear to President Trump, if it comes up in any call, that this is not our policy and that we do not agree with it.”
She recounted that President Trump has asked her in their phone calls: “`Don’t you need help? We are willing to send troops and other mechanisms to help you in your fight against organized crime.’ And I have always said to him, ‘Thank you very much, President Trump, but no. Mexico is a free, independent, and sovereign country.’”
The U.S. and Mexico can coordinate and are coordinating in many ways, however. She mentioned sharing information, training on both sides of the border, and—stressing that this is very important—the U.S. recently seized weapons on their way to Mexico.